the year before orwell
I like frightening the students who cheat. It seems an intelligent strategy because if you can’t prove what you sense to be true, a student who is lying can insist […]
teaching
writing process
It is very useful in writing to suspend judgement and pour out content even if you suspect it is horrible content and not up to scratch. It is just filling […]
Les Baronets
While awaiting a rejection letter from the music faculty of the University of Western Ontario regarding my application, I have been developing a course concept. It revolves around teaching music […]
kaspar houser
Predictably some students did not hand in the first assignment. I have learned that this is a special moment because if I let it slip, it signals they can do […]
my heart is in the highlands
For the job they want me to do a lecture. I guess that is their way of determining what I am like as a teacher but the truth is I […]
none of it
There is a young man volunteering in my office once a week. I met him while being a teaching assistant last winter for his music class. The other day he […]
codes
The problem of getting my daughter to eat salad was fixed simply by slipping cucumbers and tomatoes next to the screen when in online games with friends. If I ask […]
open stage
Last Monday there was a guy who played Long May You Run by Neil Young. From the first note he sung it was clear he has spent about 50,000 hours […]
shits fucked up
I attended Daniel Brooks play about his life, living with lung cancer and attending a Vipassana retreat. I wrote him after to get the name of the book he referenced […]
when elton’s teacher didn’t cut their punches
Student: I keep playing the same things over and over and not getting anywhere. Teacher: Isn’t the answer obvious? Student: Stop complaining? Teacher: Play new things. Student: Right..but it’s hard. […]